Merging the National Library and the National Archives LIBER General Annual Conference, Tartu, June...

Merging the National Library and the National Archives LIBER General Annual Conference, Tartu, June 2012Els van Eijck van Heslinga, Head Finance and Corporate Services, KB

Merging the National Library and the National Archives

June 2012

Facts & figures Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB)National Library of the Netherlands

2011:•359 staff as of 31 December•110 km of library materials •100,537 visits to the library annually•4,637,279 visits to the websites•47,893 books added in 2011•77,047 printed periodical issues added in 2011•1,314,318 digital periodical articles added in 2011•170,000 e-books made available (patron-driven acquisition)


June 2012

Facts & figures National Archives (NA)

2011:

• 144 staff• 105 km of public records, 14,5 km of which pre-1795• Plus 300,000 maps, drawings and 10 million photos• 19,000 visits to the archives annually• 130,000 visits to the website per month (1,560,000

per year)• 5,000 visits per day to Flickr (photos)


June 2012

Collections

Unique (digital) collections that complement each

other

• KB books, newspapers, periodicals (published material), also: manuscripts, special collections

• NA public records national government (originals), images (many photos, among others the Spaarnestad archive), other archival collections


June 2012

Similarities

• Target groups: researchers, general public, business-to-business clients such as archives and libraries, museums, other cultural heritage institutions

• Evolving into a national back office service• Responsibilities for long-term access (digital

preservation) • National and international role in respective domains


June 2012

Differences

• Ambitions with regard to digitization (NA: digitization on demand; KB: mass digitization)

• Exhibitions (NA: on-site; KB: on-line)• Relationship with government (NA: public records law;

KB: strategic influence only)• Different legal issues (NA: privacy and freedom of

information; KB: copyright and open access)


June 2012

Cooperation thus far • “Metamorfoze”, national programme for preservation of

paper heritage • Joint on-site exhibitions ( “The Legacy of the

Netherlands”)• NA contributes content to online exhibition “The Memory

of the Netherlands” • Research in digital preservation


June 2012

Digital preservation: building a national infrastructure for permanent access to digital resources


June 2012

Intended merger

December 2011: Secretary of State announces merger

Most important reasons:• Comparable digital challenges: collection and storage

of and provision of access to digital information• Pooling knowledge, skills and resources

Advantages: • High quality, continuity and efficiency• Stronger national and international position


June 2012

New strategy

A joint vision for 2025 based on:

1. Unique content (the National Memory of the Netherlands) and its exploitation

2. Knowledge about that content3. Technical infrastructure to provide long-term access

to digital collections


June 2012

Outline Strategic Plan 2014-2017

• All collections can be searched online.• Paper books, periodicals, public records and special

collections accessible in reading rooms• Digitization-on-demand service• Where possible documents and public records directly

available in digital form for research and re-use• Excellent facilities for study, research, meetings and

conferences• Facilities for exhibitions and educating the general

public


June 2012

Synergy and efficiency – short-term and long-term

Operational management

Short term: immediately after merger [1-1-2014]

Housing, ICT, Finance, HRM, Communication

‘Physical’ and digital services

Medium term: 2 years after merger

Depends on housing (reading rooms, shared entrance)

Storage and maintenance collections

Medium term: 2 years after merger

Depends on housing/ investments (stacks, depots)

Acquisitions and processing

Long term: 5 to 10 years after merger

To be decided

Merging the National Library and the National Archives June 2012

Process of merger

• Three involved parties: KB, NA, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

• Designing merger process• Due Diligence• Management meetings (determine strategy, core

values etc.)• Communications track: shared merger intranet, staff

introductions, dedicated merger design


June 2012

Organizational structure Governance yet to be determined• In all likelihood a team of directors• Structure of organization to be

determined following strategic plan


June 2012

Issues requiring attention

• New institution requires new legislation• KB and NA presently are different types of legal

entities (Autonomous Administrative Authority vs. Government Agency)

• Different Collective Labour Agreements• Special authority NA with regard to public records• Friction costs


June 2012

Present joint projectsResearch programme Digital Preservation

Restoration and Digitization Departments

Digitization on-demand

Organization of User Services Department(s)

Preliminary investigation Depots/Stacks

Shared Entrance

Office automation

Merging Facility Management

Security (people, collections)

Branding strategy

Implementation Joint Operational Management Applications

Workflow description

Preliminary investigation passage-way linking buildings

Architecture Operational Management Applications


June 2012

Timetable …


June 2012

Merging the National Library and the National Archives LIBER General Annual Conference, Tartu, June...

Documents

Transcript of Merging the National Library and the National Archives LIBER General Annual Conference, Tartu, June...